Clarence Darby
Clarence James Darby is a minor, but pivotal antagonist in the 2009 film Law Abiding Citizen. He is a psychopathic criminal responsible for the murders of Clyde Shelton's wife and daughter, and got away with it by receiving a sentence of 3 years in jail rather than life imprisonment or death, which was the main cause why Clyde became a murderous vigilante in the first place. He was portrayed by Christian Stolte. History Clarence first appeared in the beginning of the film, when he and his accomplice Rupert Ames broke into the Shelton family's home. Clarence strikes Clyde with a baseball bat, incapacitating him, and then stabs him in the stomach before handcuffing him to prevent him from escaping. Ames tried to get Darby to stop (as they were only there to rob the house and not kill anyone), but Darby silenced him. Clyde is then forced to watch as Clarence sadistically murdered (and possibly raped) Clyde's wife and daughter. Though both Clarence and Ames were caught by the police, Clyde is shocked to realize that his lawyer Nick Rice (the hero of the film) has no intentions of putting Clarence away for life because the evidence is insufficient (the DNA evidence is inadmissible and Clyde's testimony wouldn't be useful since he blacked out) and that Rice doesn't want to risk lowering his high conviction rate. As such, Rice strikes a deal with Darby, who pleads guilty to murder in a very low degree in exchange for testifying against Ames. Due to the plea bargain, he spends only three years in jail while Ames is sentenced to be executed, leaving Clyde extremely betrayed. 10 years later, Ames is executed via lethal injection, but the mixture was incorrect and thus Ames died a slow, painful death. Evidence implicates Darby, and the police immediately head to his house. While snorting cocaine in his house, Darby receives a phone call from an anonymous caller, who tells him that the police are coming to get him and that he faces life imprisonment should they catch him, and tells him how to escape. Following the anonymous caller's instructions, Darby goes on the run and is told to carjack a police officer who the anonymous caller has tased. Darby soon reaches the car and takes the unconscious cop's gun from his holster before holding the gun to the officer's head. Clarence forces the cop at gun point to drive him to the abandoned factories nearby. As soon as Clarence reaches by, the cop turns out to be Clyde. Clarence attempts to shoot him, only for the gun to be booby-trapped with puffer fish venom, which paralyses Clarence. Clyde then captures Clarence and straps him to a table inside a dark building. There, Clyde explains that he is going to cut off Clarence's arms, legs, genitals, nipples, tongue, eyelids, and every other digit on Clarence's body. He also injects Darby with adrenaline to prevent him from passing out and wraps tourniquettes around his limbs to prevent him from bleeding to death prematurely, as well as suspending a mirror over the table so Clarence can see himself be cut apart by Clyde. Clyde then begins slowly torturing Clarence, and eventually kills him via decapitation. The next day, Clarence's body was found by the police, who discovered him in around 25 different pieces including his severed head and limbless torso. Despite having succeeded in getting his revenge on Darby, Clyde plans to kill more of those involved for Darby's communal sentence. He also sent in a snuff video of himself murdering Darby to Rice's house, which deeply traumatized Rice's daughter, to taunt Rice for making the deal with Darby. In the end, before Clyde's death, Rice admits that he truly does regret making the deal with Darby, stating that he's finished making deals with murderers and acknowledges Clyde for teaching him a lesson, much to Clyde's delight. Trivia *Clarence is the Greater Scope Villain of the film because if he had not killed Clyde's wife and daughter, Clyde wouldn't have become a vigilante and the story wouldn't have happened. Category:Criminals Category:Pure Evil Category:Cowards Category:Successful Category:Traitor Category:Opportunists Category:Thief Category:Vandals Category:Neutral Evil Category:Live Action Villains Category:Action Movie Villains Category:Thriller Film Villains Category:Provoker Category:Faux Affably Evil Category:Destroyer of Innocence Category:Psychopath Category:Deceased Category:Torturer Category:Misogynists Category:Sadists Category:Incriminators Category:Rapists Category:Thugs Category:Addicts Category:Perverts Category:Movie Villains Category:Deal Makers Category:Rogues Category:Burglars Category:Male Category:Arrogant Category:Murderer Category:Drug Dealers Category:Liars